Escambia's fighting for control of 60,000 texts a commissioner claims were 'stolen' by a rival

Escambia County is alleging in legal filings that more than 60,000 of Commissioner Jeff Bergosh's text messages were illegally taken from his personal cell phone by his former political opponent Jonathan Owens.

It’s the latest development in the Emergency Medical Service training scandal that upended the Escambia County government in 2019 and resulted in the arrest of four senior-level EMS personnel in 2020 for falsifying training records.

Two of the four arrested entered a pre-trial diversion program and avoided criminal penalties, the former EMS chief pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges, and the training director was adjudicated guilty of seven felony charges of falsifying an official document.

Escambia County's former medical director, Dr. Rayme Edler, who publicly blew the whistle on the training issues and was forced out of county government, filed suit against the county in federal court in 2020 under the False Claims Act.

The suit has quietly been moving through the early stages of litigation for the last three years.

What is the lawsuit about?

The False Claims Act allows individuals to sue on behalf of the government over fraud, and a person who successfully wins a lawsuit is eligible for a portion of the money they recovered for the government.

Edler's suit alleges the county committed fraud against the U.S. government by providing ambulance services without certified personnel as required by Medicare, submitting claims to Medicare for nonemergency services at a higher and more lucrative emergency rate, and billing Medicare for advanced life support services when only basic life services were performed.

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If the county is found liable under the False Claims Act, it would have to pay triple what it receives, plus penalties for interest and inflation.

Edler's suit alleges tens of thousands of possible over-billing may have occurred. If the county is found liable, it may face penalties in the millions of dollars.

Escambia County has denied the claims in court and moved for the lawsuit to be dismissed.

Federal Judge Casey Rodges has not yet ruled on the county's motion to dismiss. Meanwhile, the two parties have been battling over discovery issues, including what to do about a spreadsheet with Bergosh's text messages.

Spreadsheet with 60,000 text messages

Earlier this year, Owens provided Edler's attorneys a copy of a spreadsheet containing 60,000 of Bergosh's text messages.

Owens unsuccessfully ran against Bergosh in 2020 for the District 1 County Commission seat in the Republican primary. Owens was also a county employee as the personal aide for former Commissioner Doug Underhill from 2014 to 2022.

After receiving the file, Edler's attorneys made the county aware of it and that they had not reviewed its contents; rather, her attorneys provided the county with a copy so the two parties could agree on a way to redact whatever was not either public record or relevant to the lawsuit under the rules of discovery.

Escambia County responded by filing a motion to seek a protective order to have the court force Edler's attorneys to delete the file and alleged Owens had committed a felony in obtaining the file.

Included in court filings was an affidavit from Bergosh saying he had turned over his personal phone to the county's IT Department in February 2022 because it was having issues, and he wanted a backup to preserve any public records before an overseas trip.

Bergosh was given a copy of his files, and he said he directed IT to delete all other copies.

Under Florida's public records law, any written communication about county business by an elected official is a public record, even on a personal device.

Bergosh told the News Journal on Friday that the issue is being investigated by the FBI.

"It's an active federal investigation, and they're looking into how Jonathan Owens acquired these and how they were stolen from the county's servers," Bergosh said. "Because of that, I have no comment to make during this investigation."

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An FBI spokesperson told the News Journal that it could not confirm nor deny the existence of any active investigation.

Owen's response

Owens told the News Journal that he did not do anything illegal, but a thumb drive with the text messages was left by an unknown person on his desk at his county office in 2022.

Owens said he assumed another county employee put it on his desk because they wanted him to have it.

Owens said he is unaware of any investigation, and the only person who has approached him about the issue is the current county's IT director, who asked him how he obtained the file.

"I said a thumb drive showed up in my office when I was still working at the county, and lo and behold, it had all Commissioner Bergosh's text messages on it," Owens said.

Owens said the way the county characterizes his actions in the lawsuit are "inaccurate and untrue."

"It seems quite slanderous to me to make accusations about a former county employee and a former opponent to Commissioner Bergosh," Owens said. "I did not steal anything. I did not hack into anything. A thumb drive showed up in my office. Many thumb drives have shown up in my office over the years."

Owens said Edler's attorneys interviewed him for a statement in the case, and he provided them the file because he thought it would be helpful.

Owens said he's read the text messages. He said Edler is mentioned hundreds of times between Bergosh and several other people, as well as other issues related to Escambia County EMS.

Federal Magistrate Judge Hope Cannon has set a hearing for Aug. 21 in the lawsuit to determine if the file can be used as part of discovery in the lawsuit along with other issues. Cannon's order said she will review the file privately before the hearing to determine its relevance to the lawsuit.

Escambia County has asked the judge to reconsider that decision to review the file, arguing that the text messages' veracity could not be assured.

Edler's attorneys argued the hearing should go forward and Cannon should review the documents because the county has presented no evidence showing the file has been altered in any way.

As of Friday, the hearing was still scheduled to begin on Aug. 21 at 10 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia EMS scandal: County battling over Bergosh text messages